Playing politics with Afghanistan

President Obama said last week that he isn’t waiting on more information on Afghanistan but being certain he has the best strategy before sending more troops and spending "billions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer money."

Mr. Obama stated while in Tokyo last week, "Our goal here ultimately has to be for the Afghan people to be able to be in a position to provide their own security, and that the United States cannot be engaged in an open-ended commitment.”

The President has not committed to a request made publicly by General Stanley McChrystal three months ago for 40,000 and gives no certain indication of exactly what he intends to do, only saying, his decision “will be made soon” and that it will be “fully transparent so that the American people understand exactly what we're doing and why we're doing it and what it will entail."

Meanwhile, troop morale has fallen as a new Afghanistan survey found that "unit morale rates...were significantly lower than in 2005 or 2007". This, along with increasing political from both the left and right has been growing. President Obama has said, “I recognize that there have been critics of the process. They tend not to be folks who I think are directly involved in what's happening in Afghanistan. Those who are recognize the gravity of the situation and recognize the importance of us getting this right."

NATO has endorsed General McChrystal’s troop surge strategy and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has pledged $5 billion in aid to Afghanistan which would replace Japan's more discordant program for aiding the war-torn country – a refueling mission for US forces, which will end in January. Critics said the mission violated Japan's pacifist Constitution as that country’s constitution prohibits the country from sending troops to combat.

Japan’s support, along with US allies is growing strained. Mr. Obama and other Bush administration critics have beat a steady drum of diplomacy, replacing President Bush’s cowboy way with sophistication. But instead of allying with action, other countries are happy to greet talk with lip service. We were told time and again that Bush’s rush and buckaroo were isolating countries that would otherwise be committed allies, and now with a decidedly different personality in the White House, his suave style is all that accompanies him out of talks.

General McChrystal’s request ought to be heeded by the man who fired his predecessor, it is time for the Commander and Chief to listen.

-- Killswitch Politick

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